In the Wolves Den---True Blood season 7 episode 6
by angie9281
Summary: Sam enlists Alcide to help save Emma from deranged wolves who want to take Emma and make her as vicious and crazed as her father and Rikki were. and the two are forced to call in some allies of the undead persuasion.


**Chapter 1**

"I'm glad her grandmother is letting you keep in touch with Emma." Alcide had stopped by the office of the rookie mayor who had weathered the crisis of the infected vampires better than anyone ad expected. It had actually been a couple of weeks now since there had been any real excitement, the last skirmish being something he overheard about Andy Bellefleur holding a vampire hostage. And of course, it would be one that Mayor Sam Merlotte knew. But now, Andy and Bill Compton had buried the hatchet and were at peace. Sam was surprised but glad to see his old friend Alcide stop by and even more relieved to see he had kept up with being back to his kinder, friendlier self. Being pack master had not been good to the werewolf.

"Yeah, me too. And Nicole….she's doing ok too."

Alcide took a sip of iced tea that Sam had offered him upon arrival. He frowned as he set the glass on the table. "Something you ain't wanting to tell me? I know you didn't call for just no reason."

"Look, I know you're on the outs with your pack and you've ad your hands full with them but I need some help."

He gave a lopsided grin. "Rikki and the others who wanted to string me up for saving Nicole and her mom…well, they're in pieces under my dad's property. I do still have some friends from the old pack. Actually, there really ain't no pack anymore but we still look out for each other. So what's up?"

Sam got up from behind his desk and paced back and forth, running a hand through his dirty blonde hair. "I never really got over Luna. Nicole was kind of there at the time, a rebound. But I got to care for her and then next thing I know, I can sense she's expecting. I kinda feel like a terrible person, moving on so fast after losing Luna…"

"No one is perfect an you know as well as I do how much of a ass I was as pack master. And I think you would never have moved on from Luna as fast as you did if you weren't hurting over losing her as much as you were. What you can try to do to help yourself feel better is just make sure Emma's always cared for. Let's face it, her grandmother won't be around forever and then what?"

Sam nodded. "I didn't mean to turn this into a therapy session….what I was trying to get at was that I want help making sure Emma is protected from some of the weres. I know some of them were working with you to try to keep Emma from me. don't act so surprised, I figured it out pretty fast and its water under the bridge. But as a wolf, I am sure that some of those who were not aligned with you would maybe try to take Emma and god forbid, raise her to be as brutal and ruthless as that Rikki was. After all I heard you say about her-"

"Yeah, a real winner she was. And you can relax, I took care of all of the ones who were going to team up with her."

"Are you sure about that?" Sam pulled out a letter from a drawer and slid it across the desk . "I got this in the mail the other day. And I suspect at least a couple of those who were backing Rikki were not there when you took care of the trash, shall we say. At least, that's what I am fearing."

"Then what are you asking for? Protection? I think I can arrange for some friends to help out and I think my dad would be willing-"

"No. Protection wouldn't be enough to let me sleep at night. I want these wolves, any that are left and want to take Emma, dead. And I am not one to take killing lightly. If there was any other way to keep more blood from being spilled, I would certainly take it."

"I get ya. I do. But this won't be easy trying to figure out a way to smoke them out of whatever hole they are hiding in. they likely know they are targets for me but if they want to get Emma, then I also think they could do something careless, enough for me to get them."

"Oh, I'm not planning on sitting back and letting you and whoever else you can round up to get those wolves. I plan on going out there too."

Chuckling deeply, Alcide finished up his drink. "I never doubted that for a minute. I think I have the beginnings of a plan but I think two heads may be better than one. Then I can see who I can rally around us to put these dogs down."

**Chapter 2**

They were not going to go completely unprepared. Knowing that they would likely be outnumbered and outmatched, even with their own supernatural talents, Sam and Alcide managed to come up with a semblance of a plan. "Plans are overrated though. From my experience, plans never usually turn out as you want them to." he stopped and looked around, his stronger than human hearing coming up with something. "I think they're here."

Sure enough, a half dozen former packmates of Alcide came out into the park where they had planned on meeting. Four men and two women, they were all fiercely loyal to Alcide even though none of them were any longer in a pack. As introductions were rushed through, the red headed, freckle faced were who looked like he could crush a boulder with a fist, revealed what he had gathered. "It's not been easy trying to spy on the rebels. That's apparently what they call themselves. Not very original but…."

Sam was impatient. "What do you know about them targeting Emma and her grandmother. Martha and I may not be the best of friends but we get along ok and I would hate to see the last part of Emma's family dead."

"Warren's good at getting info," Alcide replied nodding at the red head. "Go on, what have you found out?"

Warren nodded stiffly. "I know that yes, there are plans to get Emma and to take her out of state. They think you as mayor will be too busy running things to have the time and with Bon Temps being so small police protection wise, that kidnapping her would be a piece of cake."

"Well, they don't seem to realize that I have friends other than Alcide I would gladly try to help out."

Alcide raised a eyebrow. "And you think vamps would be much help in the daylight? No, we need to keep this strictly weres and I would also ask that Sookie not be brought in unless absolutely necessary. That girls been through more than enough."

Sam had to agree. "Fine. What else have you found out?"

A pudgy brunette next to Warren chimed in. the feral eyes of a wolf clear even behind the human exterior. "They plan on doing something in the next few days. Warren's put his ass on the line gaining Jack's trust in this and if they find out he's a spy for our group-"

"Enough, Lilly. They don't need to know about that." Warren rounded on the woman.

Alcide looked concerned. "You turned double agent? I thought you were just trying to overhear things but if something goes wrong-"

Warren waved aside the concern. "You've been a good friend to us and this is the least I could do to try to help you out. I think with all of us together and good timing, we can take these guys out without a hair being harmed on Emma's head. Or Martha's."

"So you think something's gonna go down in the next few days? But nothing concrete?"

"I planned on going to Lou Pines' bar like I have the past several nights. Last night when Alcide called me and told me what was going on, I wasn't completely surprised. I was hearing rumblings of something big being planned and over beers last night, Kit, the leader of the Rebels, said that a little girl was their next big prize they were going for. I've been undercover in their group for weeks, wanting to make sure they weren't going to try anything funny with you Alcide, with all that's happened. I guess it was good I was there last night. But if you knew what I had to do to get initiated into their group….."

Sam looked at the look on Warren's face. He looked haunted and regretful. "Do we want to know?"

Warren looked stoically at Sam. "They had me go hunting for them and I don't mean any deer. Hear any news about a animal attack that killed a jogger?"

Remembering the news he had overheard on the radio earlier in the day, he nodded as the realization hit him. "Oh god…..I can't believe….."

"I like Emma. I've only met her a couple of times but I won't let those creeps get to her and as much as I hated killing that poor woman, I tried to make it as painless as possible. But I will do anything to help keep Emma safe from them because I know their viciousness."

There was a silence as the other five wolves with Warren looked down at their feet, as if they too mourned the loss of the innocent woman. Lilly looked at Sam. "We are not brutes like Rikki was or those wackos that are out there now. We will do what it takes to get rid of them, we promise."

"I appreciate that, I really do. Are you headed back to the bar tonight?" Sam asked.

"The others usually stay outside of the bar in other shops or in the alley in case they detect any trouble. But yes, I will head there now and hopefully, they will have new information for me."

"Good. And I hope you take care of each other and that they don't get their suspicions aroused." Sam replied as he shook Warren's hand. And with those words, they left Alcide and Sam alone in the softly lit park area. As they headed back to their trucks, Alcide looked sideways at Sam.

"It'll be fine Sam. Don't feel guilty if something happens to them. They knew what they were signing up for and if this can save Emma and destroy those psycho wolves too, then its all the better for everyone in the town, let alone state."

He said nothing but offered Alcide a strong handshake as they parted to get into their vehicles. He was having a bad feeling about this and it was not only Emma he was concerned about.

**Chapter 3**

Sam was awoken early the next morning with a pounding on his trailer door. Nicole remained fast asleep in bed as he quietly went to answer. Opening the door, Lilly was panicked looking as he closed the door behind him so as not to disturb Nicole. "What happened?"

"I think there's a spy in our own group Sam. Warren did get the information we needed but I got up this morning and found this." she nodded to a sack on the floor by her feet. It was wet with blood and Sam went to look in, knowing full well he would not like what he saw. Inside was the severed head of Warren, his face frozen in a pained expression. "He was chased from the bar and managed to get me a note before he was caught. I was dragged away by the rest of our group before Kit or the others could find us…." she starred sobbing as Sam closed the sack shut. Her hands shaking, she pulled out a stained slip of paper where there was a hastily scrawled message. "I don't even know if this is real or not. All I know is that this is the best information we have. I know it's only an address but-"

"Then let's go for it. I am not going to sit here and wonder if we should or shouldn't follow up on this. Any threat to Emma is something I am not going to take lightly."

Nodding, Lily had to agree. "I will call Alcide and we will get over to the address written here-" he was stopped cold as his cell phone in his jeans pocked vibrated. Her sharp hearing let her know that it was the news they were trying to prevent. "They got Emma, didn't they?"

Sam took his phone and wanted nothing more than to throw it into the wall. He scrawled a note to Nicole and closed the front door behind him. "I guess we know that the info on the note is real. The question is if they are going to be there when we arrive. If they knew Warren was a double agent and was trying to help us in trying to stop them from taking Emma-"

Already on the phone with Alcide, Lily held a hand up for Sam to stop speaking for a moment. "Thanks Alcide. The others going to meet us there? Okay, great." she hung up. "Apparently, they are at the address that Warren left for us. They want us to come and fight them, though I have a bad feeling they may have recruited more than what we have on our side. They'll keep Emma somewhere safe, there is no doubt."

"Of course, she is the prize they were after." Sam said bitterly.

"Apparently Alcide went over to check on Martha and Emma….they were in a safe house and were being watched over by some of our own. But there was an attack and Martha was outgunned. She's hurt pretty bad and in the hospital in Shreveport but is going to be okay I guess. Alcide's nearby and on the way now-oh, wow, he is fast!"

His truck sped into the driveway outside of Sam's place and Alcide wasted no time getting out. He made a beeline for Lily. Grabbing her by the throat, he slammed her to the floor. "What in the hell, Lily? You told someone where Emma and Martha were. It was a secret only the rest of us knew. And now Kit and his gang have her!"

Sam grabbed Alcide and pulled him off of her. "Easy, Alcide, what are you talking about? She's trying to help us get Emma back!"

"the rest of our allies are dead, Sam. And all of them were killed the same way. The same way I know Lilly liked to kill. I found them all when I went to check on Emma and Martha. A stack of bodies. Killed in the way I know Lily likes to kill. She tends to leave a calling card when it comes to killing. The necks were broken and she slashed their throats with a zig zag pattern." Alcide's eyes flashed angrily at her.

**Chapter 4**

Lily remained pinned to the ground as Alcide kept her in place. Sam knelt down and looked at her face. It changed from a look of fear to a rather smug and arrogant one. "It's true. I killed the rest of yr little band of followers. Because we are doing the right thing, taking Emma. She'll be trained to become a great wolf like her father and Rikki were and not some meek little pet like you are Alcide."

"And Warren?" Sam was trying to keep his own temper in check. "You seemed to care about him-"

"I bathed in his blood after Kit tore his head off. He was tasty and I was only too glad to tell Kit about his spying on him." Lilly grinned. Alcide looked up at Sam and in a flash, he broke the woman's neck.

"I'll dig a hole." Sam said dully. "Its something I've gotten pretty used to."

After Lilly was taken care of, Alcide and Sam sat on the front porch, trying to figure out their next move. "I think we may have to call in the troops now. Are you certain there aren't any other wolves ready to help out?"

"I am sure they are but they are scared of Kit and his gang and I can not say I blame them. They are brutes. But the fact remains it is us two going up against at least ten wolves. Outmatched doesn't even begin to cover our situation we're in now."

Same sighed and looked at his watch. "I think we've got no choice but to call in the troops, though I think one of them may be pretty eager to get a hold of wolves."

"Mention the mark that these wolves have and I think you'll definitely get is attention. He should be only too eager to help get rid of them, I think." Alcide said as he took a swig of e beer Sam had offered him.

**Chapter 5**

Night had fallen and they waited in the dark clearing, having parked Alcide's truck a good distance away. They waited patiently for their recruits, Same wondering if it had been foolish to have thought they could count on those they had called, especially with all the insanity of the past many months. People, supernatural or not, Sam figured could only take so much. But then a second vehicle arrived, a SUV. Sliding out of the passenger seat, Bill Compton looked more than ready for a fight as the driver emerged, running a hand through his blond locks.

"Are we late to the party?' Eric asked, rubbing his hands together eagerly. "It's been too long since I got to take out some wolves and I couldn't resist the offer. Even if it was from you, Alcide."

Alcide ignored the slight. "Funny seeing the two of you here together, considering your past."

"Yeah, yeah, it's the Sookie's exes club, uniting one night only to slaughter wolves. That's not the issue, its saving Emma, is it not?" Bill replied in his southern drawl.

"Exes? Well, maybe when it comes to you and the dog here and Merlotte I don't believe has had the pleasure of having Sookie. But exes, she and I are not any longer. We are doing well, thank you very much." Eric said with a superior smirk.

"Enough!" Sam hissed. "We need to get into the warehouse a mile up the road. Emma is likely in there somewhere. Let's go kill some wolves, shall we?" with that, he shifted into a dark brown wolf as Alcide shifted into his white wolf form. The vampires rolled their eyes and used their speed to not only keep up, but pull ahead of them.

Arriving at the two story tall warehouse, the quartet saw there wherever cars and motorcycles parked. Lights were on and the small of fire and booze was hanging in the air. "Maybe they will drink themselves silly first." Alcide muttered as he shifted back to normal.

"That will take the fun out of everything." muttered Eric. Reaching the front door after seeing none patrolling the outside, they came into a narrow hallway and heard the sounds of people talking. Then they heard a girl's cries of pain and fear. Sam tried to run towards the room but Bill stopped him.

"Slowly, Merlotte. We'll go in together. They are probably more than ready for us and who knows what they may have set up. We will get her safely out of here."

Sam was furious but had to admit the vampire was right. "Slow and steady wins the race and all that crap, right?" he said with a feigned smirk.

Alcide got in the front of them and gestured for them all to move closer to the half open door of the room that they knew without a doubt the kidnappers were. "We've been slow and steady long enough. Let's go take care of some garbage." and he was the first to enter the room and as soon as the others joined him, all hell broke loose. As the weres shifted one by one and Sam shifted into a formidable looking white tiger, the two vampires dropped fang and headed into the fray.

**Chapter 6**

Kit was the only one who had not shifted. "You interrupted her lessons, Merlotte." he said, looking right at the tiger who was baking a beeline for him. With a grin, he shifted into a large black wolf and lunged at the tiger and as he and Same went at it, Alcide was making fairly quick work of some of the other wolves. Eric and Bill simultaneously dropped fang and threw themselves into the fray. In his own element, of battle and war, Eric took pleasure in the wolves he managed to maim. But not satisfied with merely injuring them, he let them suffer a little before finishing them off. In the most violent way possible, of course.

"Look out!" Bill called to Eric just as a wolf snuck up on Eric from behind and sent him hard into the floor of the room the then straight through into a damp basement like area. Falling onto some debris, Eric's eyes went a little wide as he saw he was impaled through the midsection by a jagged piece of wood that he quickly pulled out and held it up as the wolf that had fallen through the floor as well leapt back up and went to try to finish him off. Instead, the wolf found the piece of wood going straight through his neck. Flying up and out of the hole, the rapidly healing vampire took in the chaos that was still swirling. Then he saw Sam running out of the building after Kit who was carrying Emma. Getting into what apparently was a getaway car, Kit took off with the girl as Sam shifted again, this time into a large hawk. The warehouse fell silent as the remaining wolves were killed and the injured victors emerged, joining Eric outside.

"I'm the only one who can catch up. All of you look….well, you've certainly seen better days. Take care of the bodies and the building, won't you?" he ordered, looking straight at Bill, who clearly didn't like being ordered around at all. "I know you miss your crown and being able to give orders yourself but sometimes, the mighty do fall down rather far, don't you agree?" and with a smirk, Eric raced off to help Sam

Reaching the vehicle, which had bee stopped by a rather large rhino that was now in the middle of the road and ad very clearly made an effective roadblock, judging by the crushed in front of the car, Eric landed as Sam shifted to human form. Sam ignored him as Kit emerged from the vehicle, bloodied on the side of the head but wearing a smug look. "Look at you, resorting to working with vamps to save the girl? Emma's father could have easily handled this on his own."

"Only because he was probably using v." Sam spat. "Give me Emma and we can end this without any more death. You and your friends can just go to jail and at least you'll be alive still."

"I am afraid that's not possible. We kind of….massacred the rest of the wolves back there. Who you so bravely abandoned by running away like a girl." Eric sneered. "And as much as I would like to end you myself, I understand how important vengeance is and so I leave you to it Sam." he feigned a curtsy to the shifter who, though hating having to kill, knew he had no choice. A tiger once more, and channeling the anger he had long been fighting to keep under control, Sam ripped Kit to shreds in a bloody haze. Meanwhile, Eric was peering into the vehicle and saw the little girl huddled on the floor of the backseat. He was not one that was used to being around kids though he did find them rather amusing on those rare occasions. Emma opened her eyes and looked up at the tall man looking down at her. "I'm not scared of you." she said, her face tearstained and a little bloodied from the abuse suffered at the hands of the weres. He laughed as he untied her and gently picked her up. "Then I guess I'm not being a very good vampire, am I?"

Emma laughed as she let him carry her to Sam and she was passed into his custody. "Sam! I missed you, I was scared. They hurt me….."

"I could heal her if you want." offered Eric. "And keep in mind, I don't offer my blood to just anyone."

Sam looked a little wary but knew that even though they would never be friends, he had learned that the Viking was one to be counted on and as Sookie trusted him, he felt it was time for him to put the past behind him. "Fine but I don't want her to have a ton if it. Just enough to make her feel better. But I will not make her take it."

Emma lay in Sam's arms, watching with interest as the vampire bit into his wrist and held it out to her. "You don't have to do this is you don't want to." he said gently.

Emma looked from Eric to Sam and then put on a brave face. "I don't want to hurt anymore. I can do this."

Sam was proud of Emma and in that instant, saw the bravery and courage that no doubt Luna ad helped instill in her. He would take care of her until Martha was well enough to return home and care for her but for now, Sam thought e would enjoy being a surrogate father to the girl, good practice for the impending birth of his own child with Nicole. After a few minutes and seeing the cuts and bruises healing before his eyes, Same pulled her away from the vampire who he was grateful for being as gentle as he was. A vehicle came slowing down close to them s Eric went to take off. "Thank you." Sam called to him before he tried to fly off. "You may be a arrogant, smug, well, I could go on. But I guess if Sookie has to be with someone, I am glad she has someone as protective as you. And you're better with kids than I thought you'd be. I mean, I did bring Arlene's kids by to your bar once and I thought you were-"

"If you even think of saying anything annoyingly sweet, I may decide to help myself to a shifter snack." Eric interrupted, smirking. But the smirk faded. "I have come to learn, since losing my sister, how important family truly is. I have lost so much and now, I am grateful to have a family of my own, albeit a rather unorthodox one. Sookie included and I would lay down my life for her or any of the others. And I certainly would not dream to allow a child to suffer. You tell anyone of any of what I told you just now-"

Sam laughed. "I will not tell anyone that deep down, the dreaded, feared Viking Eric Northman has a soft side."

"That would be wise." and with a gentle ruffle to Emma's hair and a wink, he launched into the sky leaving Sam and Emma alone just as Alcide and Bill came driving up in a truck, prepared to get the two back home after a evening none would forget.

**To be continued in TB season 7 episode 7**


End file.
